Copyright by Shea Oakley
\nAll rights reserved<\/p>\n
If you know anything about Evangelical Christians you probably know that we are big on the Bible. In fact here in America we have even been called \u201cBible-Thumpers\u201d as in \u201cthumping\u201d people over the head with the book in question. More sophisticated critics sometimes refer to us as \u201cBiblicists\u201d in the same way they refer to radical Muslims as \u201cIslamists\u201d, to differentiate between what they consider normally religious people and fanatics. Evangelicals, they say, are obsessed with Scripture and thus \u201cBiblicists\u201d; unlike other people who might wear a cross around their neck and attend a building with a cross on it from time to time, but thankfully don\u2019t try to convert anyone. Many Secularists call such cross-wearers \u201cChristians\u201d and tolerate them because they aren\u2019t very offensive to anyone.<\/p>\n
(I do not mind being referred to as a Biblicist personally, if what you mean by that is that I take its truth claims seriously On the other hand if you are using the term pejoratively towards me; well, since my faith tells me to turn the other cheek I\u2019ll try to do that.)<\/p>\n
The fact is that the Bible, particularly the New Testament, is the only place people who sincerely want to be followers of Jesus Christ can find his story, his words and the words of those he appointed to introduce the faith to the world nearly two-thousand years ago. It is also the only place they can read the words, spoken through the prophets of the Old Testament, of the Being who Jesus himself referred to as his Father. The Bible and Christianity are thus really inseparable. Christian denominations that have disregarded scripture in an attempt to be more \u201cprogressive\u201d and \u201cculturally relevant\u201d have, in a sense, cut off the very limb they once stood on. Perhaps this is why such denominations have, of late, been losing their adherents at an alarming rate. A watered-down, Bible-less, Christianity is somewhat of an oxymoron and just isn\u2019t that compelling in the long run. Biblical Christianity is booming in many parts of the world. Maybe it is because people want the real thing or nothing at all.<\/p>\n
Of course many Secularists think the Bible is a bad influence on people, what with its exclusivist claims and its tendency to call a spade a spade when it comes to human nature. Those who either do not believe in the existence of God or who would prefer to think of God as an amorphous sort of being who would never ask anything of the human race do not like this book. They find it offensive.<\/p>\n
The bottom line is that it is offensive. It tells of a good God who has been betrayed by a race He created in perfect love and who decided to the use the free will He also gave them in love to spit in his face. It goes on to say that this loving God is also a holy God who cannot forever abide this unjustified rebellion and will someday rightfully judge every human being who ever walked the Earth.<\/p>\n
So the Bible is offensive, at least to a race of self-centered rebels who do not want to admit their creator\u2019s absolute claim over their lives. In fact many people would just assume the book and those who believe in it go away. The problem is that neither is going to happen anytime soon because the God of the Bible illuminates the way back to him in that Bible, through his Son, and some of us have caught on to the fact that this is a very good thing (in fact the greatest thing that has ever happened to us.)<\/p>\n
Of course rather than hate us, and the book we so firmly hold to, it might behoove some of you who are reading these words to ask yourselves if maybe we aren\u2019t onto something. At the very least you might want to pick up a copy of it and get a better idea of why we hold it in such high esteem and, who knows, you might even meet its ultimate Author in the process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Copyright by Shea Oakley All rights reserved If you know anything about Evangelical Christians you probably know that we are big on the Bible. In fact here in America we have even been called \u201cBible-Thumpers\u201d as in \u201cthumping\u201d people over the head with the book in question. More sophisticated critics sometimes refer to us as… <\/p>\n